Massive success for Malta weightlifting at the European Small Nations in San Marino this past weekend. The team made up of Kyle Micallef, Kieran Mifsud, Matthew Camilleri, Yazmin Zammit Stevens and Elisia Scicluna places 2nd place in the event, with Iceland placing in 1st place. The teams stellar performance saw 12 national records being broken, with many personal bests being reached.
Zammit Stevens has officially lifted the biggest total recorded in Malta of 172kg. Yazmin (-69kg) finished with a snatch of 77kg and clean and jerk of 95kg, breaking 2 national records in the process. ((She also ranked 3rd overall behind Iceland athletes taking best lifter and runner up.))
Scicluna (-90kg) snatched a new national record attempt at 70kg and powered through her clean and jerks with all three attempts being good lifts. She finished at 89kg and a total of 159kg, capping off 3 national records in this meet.
Kyle Micallef(-94kg) improved his total, showing he’s definitely on form this season. He added on to his national record of the snatch with an attempt of 125kg.
His clean and jerks showed Micallef was fired up and more confident than ever, breaking another 13 year old record twice with 156kg and 159kg. He finished with a 284kg total and 5 new national record.
17 year old Kieran Mifsud Mifsud was the youngest athlete in the competition. In the (-105kg) finished with a snatch of 122kg, by going in a lower category he also set two national records in Junior and Senior category with a clean and jerk of 156kg. For Mifsud it was very difficult to maintain his top performance after excellent results in the European Championships two weeks ago.
Finally, the last of the team members, Matthew Camilleri (-85kg), finished the competition with a massive competition PR total of 243kg. Along with his 108kg Snatch, he fought hard through a clean and jerk at 135kg. Despite being hammered at the bottom of the clean, he stood up the weight and powered through the jerk with ease.
The teams performance at the European Small Nations is one of the best ever seen by Malta Weightlifting. The continuous improvement and numerous records being broken at basically every single meet shows the association’s hard work is definitely paying off.
Furthermore in the electoral congress, the president of the association Jesmond Caruana, had success of his own by being elected as general secretary of the European Small Nations.
Caruana assisted the athletes in this competition, while Ramona Borg who was on duty as Jury member.
The participation in this competition was possible trough the help and support of Malta Olympic Committee and SportMalta.